Tuta absoluta discovered with digital scouting

The problem

The company had identified the opportunity to regularly monitor crop deficiencies and continuous monitoring of the variability of the plots through mapping of the productions carried out annually.

Particularly in the tomato crop monitoring pests and diseases is critical to prevent yield loss and reach production goals.

The solution

The grower implemented in his crop management the use of drone imaging with analysis of the AgroScout platform and into his phytosanitary IPM management with by-weekly flights. The goal was to monitor and detect crop development in real-time and to more accurately plan processing and manufacturing operations.

Through the use of drone, scouting combines with AI data analysis of AgroScout, it had been identified Tuta Absoluta, tomato leaf miners, in the field. 

**The most common method for controlling leaf miners is a general pesticide application on the infected plants. The trick to best killing leaf miners is the timing - spray too early and the pesticide will not reach the leaf miner larva or too late and will not kill the leaf miner flies.

The AgroScout field data analytics identified exactly the right time and place to apply the pesticide for maximum results.

In addition, the high resolution images (from 2 to 5 cm) allowed to identify fungal diseases or parasite attacks across the season in order to promptly treat the identified and geo-localized area, as well as prevent water stress by identifying the areas most at risk, where the first symptoms occur.